Excellent point. They should figure out NOW how they would want to use their TS credits IF they had the DDP - the places they want to eat and the times that best fit with their touring schedule. Then call Disney Dining right away and see how much of that schedule they can make ADRs for. (As you probably know, you don't need to be on the DDP to make ADRs. They'll ask when you call if you're going to be using the DDP for that ADR, but how you answer won't lock you in in any way.) Anyway, as they find out how much of their plan they can/cannot do, and what sort of changes they'd need to make to use their TS credits, they'll have a better idea of whether DDP is going to make sense.
I mean, the DDP is all about those TS credits! In 2003 (pre-DDP), my family (then 2 adults, 1 child, 1 infant) spent about $600 on food over a 6-night/7-day trip. IOW, $100 per night. On that trip, we did only 3 TS meals and all of those were in the lower-cost tier of TS dining (Boma, Biergarten, San Angel Inn). The rest was CS and snacks. If DDP did not exist, we would follow the same plan b/c I personally am not willing to pay Disney prices for TS every night of a trip. Now, however, DDP costs us $100 per night (2 adults @ $39/ea + 2 kids @ 11/ea), so my OOP cost is the same even though I have one more mouth to feed AND I am getting better (and more!) food. BUT, I make our ADRs well in advance so I can be sure we are eating where we want to eat at the times that work for us. Personally, I would rather eat mostly CS and do economical TS's on a catch-as-catch-can basis as we did pre-DDP rather than buy the DDP and feel like I was being forced to eat dinner at 4:30 or in my third-choice TS every day because I couldn't get ADRs when and where I wanted. Hopefully that will end up NOT being the case when the OP's family calls Disney Dining, but better to be informed in advance and make an informed decision.
